CAPE TOWN, Feb 2: Demonstraters who are injured, or worse, during protests at Zimbabwean World Cup matches are not the responsibility of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the organisation’s chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Sunday.

“What we are doing in Zimbabwe — running cricket matches — is perfectly legal, and we will do that to the highest possible standard in terms of safety and security,” Speed told reporters at a function to honour the South African national team.

“Zimbabwe is going through a difficult political and economical time, no-one disputes that. People are not demonstrating against us holding cricket matches, let’s be clear about that.

“But demonstrators are taking advantage of your presence, the international media, as an opportunity to get their message through,” Speed said.

The ICC decided to go ahead with six World Cup matches in Zimbabwe last Thursday despite concerns expressed by England and Australia about the political and security situation in the country.

Australia’s Cricket Board is also concerned about reports that protesters would picket their match with Zimbabwe.

“If we have people in Zimbabwe, who know the law in their country (concerning illegal protests) taking advantage of the presence of World Cup matches, then that is a matter for local authorities,” said Speed.

“It is coincidental that they are using cricket to do that. If the cricket were not there the demonstrations would go on — they would find some other way of making their point.

“Governments have had the opportunity to impose sporting sanctions on Zimbabwe and they have chosen not to do that. What’s happened here is that cricket has been identified by governments as a soft target,” Speed said.

“We have some 300 British companies operating out of Zimbabwe at the moment and nobody is saying to them ‘get out, you can’t continue your business in Zimbabwe,’ but that’s what is being said to cricket,” he said.

Responding to a question concerning the England Professional Players Association’s (PCA) request to see a copy of the World Cup security plan, Speed said:

“An organisation doesn’t write a security plan and then make it public. If there is someone out there seeking to cause trouble then they would like to see the security plan so we need to keep it as a confidential document.

“But we have offered to meet with any team, along with the directors of the Security Directorate, to go through the plan. We are scheduled to meet the England team on Friday,” Speed said.

New Zealand is the only country so far to pull out of a World Cup match after their refusal to play in Kenya because of safety fears. The ICC rejected their request to have the game moved to South Africa.—Reuters